Rotatable index for cocks.



H. MUELLER.

ROTATABLE INDEX FOR COOKS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1901. RENEWED mo. 1909.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

J/VVENTOR.

x 0 m 0 H A ANDREW B. GRAHAM co PHOTO-LITMOGRAPMERS, wAsmNmaN. Dc.

' diiferent places around its perimeter.

UNITED STATES PA'rE Fro.

HENRY MUELLER, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO H. MUELLER MANUFACTUR-ING COMPANY, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ROTATABLE INDEX FOR COCKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Application filed June 24, 1907, Serial No. 380,582. Renewed December 9,1909. Serial No. 532,253.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY MUELLER, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Decatur, Macon county, State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Rotatable Indexes for Cocks; andmy preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in thefollowing full, clear, and exact description, terminating with claimsparticularly specifying the novelty.

This invention relates to cocks adapted for use with hot or cold water,or with other liquids of different kinds, and the object is to providefor indicating either of a plurality of uses for which the cock may beadapted.

The invention is embodied in a rotatable index member, normally heldagainst rotation between two clamping surfaces formed in or on the cock,and provided with different indications, such as words or signs, at Themode of operation is to loosen the clamping pressure on the indexmember, to rotate the latter until the indication descriptive orsuggestive of the desired use of the cock is presented in properposition for ready observation, and to then retighten the clamp.

The invention is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, andit is defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a frontelevation of a right-and-left basin cock of the Fuller type, said cockbeing provided with two index members, one in the body of the cock andthe other in the lever handle with which the cock is supplied. Fig. 2 isa side elevation of the cook shown in Fig. 1, with the index members andadjuncts thereof in central vertical section. Fig. 3 is a detail inelevation of an oval index member for the cock body. Fig. 41.- is adetail in elevation of the index member for the handle. Fig. 5 is a lanview of the index member shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a perspective detailof another form of fiat button. Fig. 7 shows a spherical index whichmight be used for either the button or the handle.

The body of the cock is shown at l, and at 2 is shown a concave seat forthe support of the index member 4, which is commonly called a button,and is convex on its under side if the seat is concave. The seat 2 isbored and threaded, the button is bored centrally as shown at P in Fig.5, and a bolt 10 is inserted through the button and screwed into thebore of the seat until the button is clamped in place between the seat 2and the head 3 of the bolt. The button has diiferent indications, suchas words or signs, at different places around its perimeter, or aroundits edge if it be flat or flattened, but in any event they will not beclearly seen from above. The words Hot and Cold are used in thisinstance, and either may be placed in position to confront the user.When the cock is used for hot water the word Hot is presented to thefront or placed in position to be readily seen, and when the cock isused for cold water the position of the button is reversed. If the cockhad other uses and the button were provided with words or signsindicating such uses, the operation would obviously be the same.

The handle 5 has a shoulder 6 forming a seat, and a bolt rod 7 extendsfrom the shoulder and is threaded at its end. A rotary index member 8 isbored to slip over bolt 7 and is provided with indications such as theword Hot on its perimeter at one side and the word Gold at the otherside. Finally a nut 9 is screwed on the threaded end of the bolt 7 toclamp the member 8 against the shoulder or seat. The index member 8 forma part of the handle, its function is identical with the function of thebutton so far as its indexing characteristics go, and there is closemechanical similarity between the button and adjuncts and the-rotatableindex member of the handle and its adjuncts. In the case of the button,the nut element of the clamp is here shown as formed in the cock bodywhile the bolt element is separable from the cock; in the case of thehandle, the bolt element of the clamp is here shown as formed on thehandle while the nut element is separable. But all that is involved is areversal of mechanical elements, and in each form the idea of a nutmentsof the invention and thereby more clearly defining the principleinvolved.

The button in Fig. 6 is polygonal-showing that it might be square,triangular, or of other desired angular contour, so long as it hasindications on the perimeter or edges which stand at right angles to thebore. In this view the button is designated as possibly having fourindications around its perimeter, all different. The index in Fig. 7 isspherical, and could be used for the button 4 or the handle 8, accordingto its size and the length of its axial boreshowing that it might beround or rounded, ovoid or oval, so long as it had indications at thepoints which stand at right angles to the bore. In this view the sameword, is designated on opposite sides of the perimeter, but, as statedabove, that is immaterial. By preference all words read around the axisand not parallel with it.

The advantages of a rotatable index when used in connection with a cockare many. These buttons are commonly made of pottery, suitably inscribedand with a highly glazed or porcelain surface, and the maker if giventhe necessary details for any type of button or handle need furnish onlyone with several indications for the cock to which it is to be applied,rather than furnishing a plurality having different indications. Themanufacturer of the cock need carry in stock but a single member,instead of a plurality having different indications, and in assemblingthe parts it is immaterial what indications he leaves exposed. So alsowith the jobber and plumber. Finally, when the cock is set up for use,the workman without special tools can quickly adjust the index so thatthe indication will agree with the service performed by the cock; andeven afterward, if the user should, for instance, cutoff hot water anddesire the indication to be Cold, he could change the index himself.

My U. S. Patent No. 857957 covered a fixed cock body, an index buttonmounted thereon for rotary adjustment, and indications on its upper faceat opposite sides of its center so that either could be set toward theuser and viewed from above. In the present case -I hide the indicationwhich is not to be read, by having it on the rearmost part of the indexmember where it is out of sight of a user looking from above or from infront. Such part is, in the case of a fiat or flattened member, at itsedge, and

' in case of an axially elongated member is at the point most remotefrom its axis, and in any event is at the true perimeter asdistinguished from top or bottom or any face or side of the member. Thisidea, moreover, is applied in the present case to the swinging handle ofthe cock illustrated, and in that respect differs further from my formercon struction which was not capable of that use.

In a companion application filed by me this day and bearing SerialNumber 580,583, the index member is not bored but is clamped in placebetween the parts of a separable housing, so that when the clamp isloosened the index or button can be shifted to expose through the clampany one of several indications with which it is provided. In the presentcase the index member is rotatable in but one plane on its own axis. Ineach instance I have shown and described my index as used in connectionwith a cock where its indications are usually Hot or Cold or the like,but I do not mean to limit the use of the invention to this art norconfine the indications to these words.

hat is claimed as new is:

1. In a cock or the like, the combination with two clamping membersforming part of the cock; of an index member rotatably adjustable on itsaxis and held between the clamping members and provided at diiferentplaces around its perimeter at points most remote from said axis withwords or signs, each indicating a use for the cock, all of which areexposed but only one at a time visible to the user.

2. In a cook or the like, the combination of a bolt element and a nutelement constituting a clamp carried ,by the cock, and an index memberaxially bored to slip onto the bolt, the index member being adapted tobe held clamped between the nut and the head of the bolt and provided onits perimeter with words or signs of diiferent meaning reading aroundthe axis, all of which are exposed but only one at a time visible to theuser.

3. In a cook or the like, the combination of a bolt element and a nutelement constituting a clamp carried by the cock, and an index memberbored to slip onto the bolt, the index member being rotatably adjustableand adapted to be held clamped bet-ween the nut and the head of the boltand provided around its extreme edge with indications, all of which areexposed but only one at a time visible to the user.

4. In a cock or the like, the combination wit-h a seat on the cock, anda rotatable index button having an axial bore and provided around itsperimeter with indications of which but one at a time confronts the userand the others are hidden from him; of a nut-and-bolt clamp passingthrough said bore and holding the button on the seat but permitting itsadjustment around its axis.

5. The combmatlon with a cock having a button seat bored and threaded,and a screw whose ti is adapted to engage said threaded bore; 0 aflattened index button provided around its edge with difierentindications any of which may confront the user while subscribed mysignature this the 22nd day of the others are hidden from him, saidbutton June, A. D. 1907.

being bored for the passage of the shank of the screw, capable ofadjustment on it, and HENRY MUELLER 5 clamped between its head and saidseat, subiVltnessesz stantially as described. PHILIP MUELLER,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto J No. L. WADDELL.

